


Refrigerated Gold

by oneatatime



Category: Power Rangers Ninja Steel, Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: Gen, didn't want to tag them because those three are the focus, the other people in both teams appear, this is about family stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23491423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/pseuds/oneatatime
Summary: What's an anxious cowboy ninja to do when he's dragged through a hole in space and time?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22
Collections: Space Swap 2020





	Refrigerated Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jen425](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/gifts).



Madame Odius laughed, and laughed. 

He only had a few seconds, at best. And he couldn't save both of them. 

So Levi kicked Brody in the back, sending him stumbling towards the others. Preston grabbed his wrist. Wind whipping their hair, Preston held onto Sarah, who held onto Calvin, who held onto Hayley, who had both legs and one arm wrapped around a tree. They'd all be okay. This wasn't the first time they'd dealt with something seemingly unbeatable from Madame Odius. They'd figure a way out of it. Never mind the fear on all their faces. Never mind the betrayed, horrified look on Brody's face as he turned, trying to reach out for Levi. They'd be okay. 

Brody would be okay. 

The maelstrom jerked Levi up into the sky, and he passed out.

***

Blake rolled his shoulders, crouched to retie his left shoe, then took off. He'd had a frustrating shift at Storm Chargers with some surly customers, and he also had a really annoying big brother who kept hassling him about leaving the milk out. Milk was tough enough to sit on the kitchen counter for ten minutes now and then while he ate his cereal. It wasn't gold or something. Uh, not that gold needed to be kept in the fridge. (Did it... need to be kept in the fridge?) 

Anyway, it was time for a jog; it served as both training and clearing his head. When he got into the woods, he added some handsprings, just for fun. 

He wasn't expecting to find a body.

***

"Hey. Hey, buddy."

A gentle hand patting his shoulder, and concerned dark eyes looking into his.

Levi jolted upright. The other guy moved back just in time to avoid being headbutted, then rubbed Levi's back as he fought to control nausea. He was in - in a forest or something? Trees. Grass. That meant forest, right? How had he gotten here? 

"I'm okay," he said at last, proud of something so small as managing to not throw up. 

"Take your time, man. I don't know how you got here but I think you hit every tree on the way down. I'm Blake. Oh, here's your hat, assuming it's yours." 

"Levi," Levi said absently, and was both relieved and mystifed when Blake didn't seem to have any reaction to that name even coupled with the cowboy hat. "You don't recognize me?"

"Ca- the news said something about some hinky vortex crap happening, so I figured you were Mr Hinky," Blake said with a grin. "We've had some other drop-ins here and there, like this set of brothers from Japan. Black and grumpy, and green and cheeky. Uh, should I know you? Have you been in Blue Bay Harbor long?"

"Blue Bay Harbor? I'm from Summer Cove." 

Blake nodded slowly, and though Levi had only just met him, he could tell the other guy was putting things together in his head. 

"That's a pretty big distance. Okay. Let me call my brother." He paused with his hand poised over some kind of wrist communications device. "You don't happen to know if gold needs refrigerating, do you?" 

***

Dustin clattered down the stairs into Ninja Ops with Tori hard on his heels. "Blake? Hey, Blake, where are you? What's this about some new guy?" 

"And how are we supposed to know about if gold needs to go in the fridge?" Tori said, to feel like she was contributing something. 

Hunter emerged first, then two other people, and it was only that Hunter was first and didn't look worried that made it so that Tori didn't morph immediately. Because the other two were Blake with a deep cut over his eye and his forearm bandaged, and a complete stranger with a cowboy hat. 

Cowboy Hat Guy, to be fair, also had a giant band-aid across his cheekbone, assorted visible bruises, and a bandage wrapped around one wrist. He and Blake might've had a stupid-off or something, but it was pretty unlikely that they'd fought each other and then the stranger had mastered both Blake and Hunter. Not impossible. Weird crap happened around here daily. But it was unlikely. 

"Who's this?" Dustin said warily. 

Blake sighed. "Levi, of the Ninja Steel Rangers. From our future. Oh, and he morphs with a _hamburger_. It's awesome. We got attacked."

Tori queried, "It's awesome that you got attacked?"

And Dustin, forever able to focus on the heart of any matter, said simultaneously, "By hamburgers?"

***

Fifteen minutes or so later, explanations had been given all around, and Shane and Cam had emerged.

("No, we weren't making out, Dustin, shut up.")

"A hamburger ninja cowboy," Hunter marveled. They were outside, as Cam had kicked them all out while he worked on the technical problem. Tori, Shane, Dustin, and Blake were sparring, in a blur of color. Hunter was stretching, not too far from where Levi leaned against a tree. 

"You guys are bugs," Levi said mildly. He was trying not to focus on how everyone else was doing without him. Brody had managed without him for years. The rest of the team had been fine without him, too. 

"Yeah, and your mentor is some kind of space cat, and you get your powers from space, right?"

Levi laughed, amused at how this had become a competition. On a whim, he scooted closer and offered Hunter his hands. Hunter smiled and grabbed hold, then Levi leaned back to help Hunter stretch further. "Yours is a hamster." 

"Sensei is a guinea pig!"

"You're right, that's much less weird."

A jet of water shot past Levi's face, and he turned with his expression frozen to see Tori blast again. Then Dustin vanished into the earth. 

Hunter laughed. "I guess you don't have element powers out of suit." 

"You guess right, my friend." 

They kept stretching for a while longer, and Levi found himself humming a song he'd been thinking about for a while. It was horrible to be here, especially knowing that he could technically, apart from the whole 'breaking the laws of time and destroying the universe' deal, go warn his dad about everything. It was also almost relaxing, because he literally could not do anything. He couldn't protect anyone. He couldn't help his team. He couldn't stick close by Brody. 

"They'll be okay," Hunter told him quietly. Feet pressed against Levi's, he tugged on Levi's wrists to help him deepen his hamstring stretch. "Your team, and your sister. Brother?" 

"How'd you know?" 

"I saw the way you looked at Blake and me. Don't worry. Trust your team. Took me a while to do that, too." 

"It's hard, man," Levi said, suddenly a lot more honest than he'd be with most strangers. He wasn't big on lying, but keeping information to himself, to protect himself and not burden others? Damn straight. "I only just got my brother back." 

"We'll come look you up in your time, after we finish beating Lothor and rescuing our trapped people. And you'll be fine. I promise." 

Was that the way an older brother looked, when he was being all protective and firm? Levi grinned suddenly. And Blake was over there, helping and being helped by the other guys, who were all important too. Brody would be okay. He and Preston, Sarah, Hayley, Calvin - and Mick - would help each other. 

***

It was taking longer than he'd hoped, and longer than Cam had hoped, too. Cam had set Ninja Ops' security to recognize him, at least, so he could go out and wander a little. They'd hooked into his morpher now. They could contact him if necessary.

He missed being able to get online to waste time. 

He sat at the edge of the pool, twenty feet or so from where the waterfall emptied itself. There was a little spray on his face, and he kicked off his borrowed slippers so he could dangle his feet in the water. 

The stars were beautiful. 

"leVI! LEVI caN YOU heaR ME?" 

He blinked, looking up down at his morpher. A giant fuzzy space cat head had replaced the display. Then a smaller blonder head replaced it, and Sarah grinned at him. "WE'LL FiguRE IT OuT!" 

They blipped out again, but he left a note for Cam and went back to bed feeling much better. 

***

Dustin was down on the ground at the carpark, next to an abandoned shopping cart. Hunter and Blake fought Kelzaks desperately to one side, and Cam and Tori faced the monster alone while Shane covered Dustin. 

Levi broke into a run, as they all managed to gather themselves well enough to morph. "Ninja Spin!" 

"Power of Air!"  
"Power of Water!"  
"Power of Earth!"  
"Crimson Thunder!"  
"Navy Thunder!"  
"Samurai Power!" 

What the heck. Why not? 

"Rhythm of the Ninja! Ninja Steel - Gold!" 

He moved into his own position at the end of their line, grinning fiercely behind his helmet, then sprang into action alongside them. 

***

Levi stood shyly next to Cam's console as Cam finished up whatever he was typing. He turned in his chair, smiling at Levi. "It'll be okay. Promise. Your Mick and Sarah and I have exchanged a few test objects, and everything came through fine." 

"So I'm not going to end up with my arms where my legs should be," Levi said. 

Dustin grinned. "Or your head up your ass, unlike Sh-" 

That dissolved into a scuffle, and then Levi found Blake hugging him. The rest followed suit in their own way. They'd all helped him. All made him feel warm and welcome. He made sure to meet Hunter's eyes a little longer, and Hunter gave him a nod. 

"Thank you all," he said, then between one breath and the next he found himself falling two inches to the floor in the Ninja Steel base. 

"LEVI!" 

Brody flew into his arms, hugging him hard, and he was surrounded by his own family for a while, with them patting his back, ruffling his hair, and taking turns to hug him. When they backed off eventually, he took a deep breath, and also took the tissue that Hayley handed him surreptitiously so he could wipe his eyes. 

"Hi," he said at last. "Glad you're all okay." 

"Don't scare me like that," Brody scolded, and Levi grinned as he thought about the various little bickers he'd seen between Hunter and Blake. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Sir-!" 

Mick ordered pizza, and they settled down into relaxing. He told them bits and pieces about his time with the other team. 

"And so I've titled that song I was working on," he finished. "'Refrigerated Gold'." 

Calvin reached out and nudged his knee. "Did you - did you get really cold or something?" 

Levi laughed, and opened his mouth to explain, but then there was a knock at the door. It was pushed open and a familiar figure came through... a figure who looked maybe fifteen years older than the last time Levi had seen him. This morning.

"Hunter?!"

"Hi."


End file.
